Visible crew/equipment: When Russell lands his crop-dusting plane and Miguel rides up alongside on his motorbike. The equipment used to help stop the motorbike, at the right position for the close-up, is visible on the ground - but it's gone in the wideshot. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.)
Audio problem: After the President tells General Grey that he is a combat pilot who belongs in the air, Major Mitchell says, "Okay, sir," but his mouth movements are not in sync. (01:57:40)
Continuity mistake: When the two couples say their goodbyes, before Steven and David's mission, Jasmine has her right arm over Steven's shoulder in the shot facing her, but next shot her right arm is down, under his arm.
Continuity mistake: At the club, in Jasmine's dressing room, there are either two nail polish remover bottles beside the TV, or two white bottles - one large, one small, depending on the angle of the shot. (00:38:35)
Continuity mistake: In the motorhome, when Troy tells Russell that he feels sick, as the RV pulls over in the wideshot the back window curtain is open, but closed in other shots. (00:55:00)
Audio problem: In the car with Julius, we hear David say, "Hey, hey slow it down," but his mouth actually says, "Hey, hey what have..." (00:40:25)
Continuity mistake: When David removes the bottle that Connie put in the fridge, in the next shot as Connie says, "Research and development," the coffee filter behind her moves from the edge to farther down the table. (Fullscreen only) (01:33:45)
Continuity mistake: When Julius and David drive to DC, the amount of dirt on the Plymouth's front and back windshields varies between shots.
Revealing mistake: When the aliens attack LA, there is a shot of red and silver cars. The same cars fall three times onto other cars, from three different angles. (00:51:00)
Continuity mistake: When the B2 releases the nuke it banks away to the left, however the next radar shot shows it flying away to the right.
Continuity mistake: When Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are in the mothership, Will says that once the missile is fired they have 30 seconds to get out of the ship before it explodes. The sequence of events, portrayed in real-time, from the start of the countdown to the detonation is 93 seconds. By the time 30 seconds has elapsed; they are just barely getting to the inner-triangle opening, with 23 seconds remaining. From here, it takes an additional 40 seconds to traverse 'the triangle' and exit the ship; with another 10 seconds passing after clearing the doors. The timer now shows 10 seconds remaining. Basically (according to the countdown), the first 30 seconds were depicted as being only 7 having elapsed; and the 50 seconds after that being only 13. Everything was in real-time. (02:18:25)
Continuity mistake: When Steven returns to the base, some of the other guys are watching the news on TV. In the TV's close-up there is a towel right beside it and newspapers lying on top, but in the next shot the newspapers change and the towel is about two feet away. (00:34:20)
Continuity mistake: After David looks in the fridge for ice, Connie appears at the doorway, and when he makes a toast to the end of the world, the bottle to his right turns between shots, note the label. (01:33:10)
Continuity mistake: During the First Lady's death scene, Connie is on the First Lady's left, when the President asks his daughter to go out in the hallway. But in the very next shot, Connie is on the other side of the bed standing right next to the little girl. (01:39:55)
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the film, when all the main characters pull up in a jeep to meet David and Steven who have just returned to earth, Jasmine leaps out first and is shown running alone toward them, yet Connie gets to the men first. This cannot be explained by Connie being faster than Jasmine as the distance is too short(the rest of the group stroll to the men in only seconds). Connie would have to run like the wind.
Other mistake: When the US Military is deploying a nuclear bomb against the alien attacker over Houston, you see them fire the nuke and then the B-2 breaks left, but on the screen you can see the B-2 breaking right.
Revealing mistake: When the Welcome Wagon is being shot down you can see an explosion starting inside the last helicopter before it is even being hit.
Continuity mistake: Jasmine's friend at the strip club shows off a sign she made. It changes design and grows creases. This is more evident in the special edition, as the scene is longer.
Continuity mistake: When the alien spaceships open the main gun above the White House we can just see the green light coming on at two people on the ground. When the camera cuts to the view of the spaceship the gun housing is almost completely open.
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the film as the shields come down, the jets start firing missiles at the ship. There is a shot of Randy Quaid's son walking through the control room at Area 51. Notice in the background, the lights are blinking on and off. The alien ship hasn't fired it's main weapon yet. Once it does they show the lights flickering off and on in the control room. These scenes are several minutes apart.
Answer: In the book of the same name, this man is called "Pig". He was a test pilot during the Vietnam War. He played a crucial role in training the new pilots.